The complaint, filed Feb. 22 in federal court in Charlotte,
North Carolina, claims Sumitomo is infringing patent 6,432,586,
which was issued in 2002 and covers a separator in high-energy
rechargeable batteries. The separators prevent short circuits
that can reduce efficiency and limit safety problems from
overheating.

Sumitomo Chemical makes the chemicals and materials for
lithium ion batteries that use Celgard’s invention without
permission, according to the complaint. The separators are used
in batteries made by Panasonic Corp. for laptop computers,
Celgard said in the suit.

“Celgard has a long history of innovation in lithium-ion
battery separators and is a world leader in this technology,”
Polypore Chief Executive Officer Robert Toth said in a
statement. “We have a responsibility to our customers,
partners, and shareholders to safeguard the investments we make
in innovation.”

Tokyo-based Sumitomo Chemical has filed a trademark
application to use the name “Pervio” for its separators,
according to the complaint.

Polypore is seeking a court ruling that prevents the future
use of the invention, plus cash compensation.

Polypore, based in Charlotte, also makes Duralife
automotive batteries, and separators for health-care products
like hemodialysis machines and beverage filtration machines.
Weakness in the end market for electronic devices and electric
vehicles were blamed for a 4 percent drop in fourth-quarter
sales to $180.2 million, Polypore said Feb. 20.

The case is Celgard LLC v. Sumitomo Chemical Co., 13cv122,
U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina
(Charlotte).

Reckitt Benckiser Faces Generic Threats After FDA Rejection

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc faces competition in
pharmaceuticals for the first time after the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approved two generic variants of its Suboxone
heroin-dependency drug, thwarting the company’s attempts to keep
rivals away from its most profitable business.

The company said yesterday that two manufacturers have FDA
approval to produce generic Suboxone tablets in the U.S.
Competition could arrive within a month, according to Alex
Howson, an analyst at Jefferies International in London.

Reckitt Benckiser was also hurt by the FDA’s rejection in a
Feb. 22 letter of the company’s September petition asking that
makers of similar medicines implement more safeguards. The FDA
also asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into claims by
generic drug makers of anti-competitive business practices on
Reckitt Benckiser’s part.

The shadow of competition to Suboxone has hung over the
Slough, England-based company since it lost U.S. patent
protection in 2009. The pharmaceuticals unit generated 21
percent of profit last year, and analysts yesterday reduced
their 2013 profit estimates by as much as 4 percent.

Reckitt Benckiser, which said it was “disappointed” by
the rejection of its petition, has said generics would eliminate
as much as 90 percent of tablet sales and up to 20 percent of
the newer film-strip version, which dissolves under the tongue
and has captured a 64 percent volume share in the U.S.

One of the generics will come from Bridgewater, New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC, which said in a statement
yesterday that is has received FDA approval for a generic
version of Suboxone tablets, to be available in March. The other
will be made by Actavis Inc. of Parsippany, New Jersey, which
said in a statement it intends to begin shipping its product
immediately.

Reckitt Benckiser said it’s sticking with its decision to
stop producing Suboxone in tablet form next month as it weans
patients onto the film-strip version, which it unveiled in 2010.

Sony Applies for Patent on Load Time-Based Anti-Piracy Measure

Sony Corp., maker of the PlayStation video game console, is
seeking a patent on a technology aimed at detecting pirated
games.

According to application 20130047267, published in the
database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Feb. 21,
devices using this patented technology will be able to identify
whether a game is legitimate based on the amount of time it
takes to load into the device.

This will detect whether the game -- or other content -- is
“illegally transferred or pirated to another, unauthorized
media type.” Sony said that despite the use of digital rights
management software and tamper-resistant hardware, pirates are
able to reverse-engineer such technology and circumvent the
protections.

Using this technology, a device will have a threshold of
load time for legitimate content. If the media doesn’t pass the
validation in terms of load time, the user would be unable to
access the content, Sony said in its application.

Tokyo-based Sony filed the application in August 2011.

For more patent news, click here.

Trademark

‘Smart Ovens’ Abound, as Do Applications to Register Trademark

Breville Group Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. have both
filed applications to register “Smart Oven” as a trademark in
Australia, Appliance magazine reported.

Electrolux AB’s Electrolux Australia had previously applied
to register the term in Australia, according to the magazine.

Samsung has also filed a U.S. application for a “Smart
Oven” trademark, Appliance Magazine reported.

South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. is also coming out with a
“smart oven,” according to the magazine.

For more trademark news, click here.

Copyright

Google’s YouTube Tells Nascar It’s Unblocking Fan’s Crash Video

Following a copyright infringement claim from the National
Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Google Inc.’s YouTube
video-sharing service blocked and then unblocked a race fan’s
video of the crash at the Feb. 23 Daytona 500 race, the
Washington Post reported.

Nascar asked for the removal of the video “out of respect
for those injured,” the race company said in a statement,
according to the Post report.

YouTube then put the video back up, saying “Our partners
and users do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube
unless they contain content which is copyright infringing, which
is why we have reinstated the videos,” according to the Post.

The fan’s video shows a race-car wheel that ended up in the
stands, with race viewers waving for help, the Post reported.

For more copyright news, click here.

Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage

Microsoft Says Its Computers Were Hit by Cyber Attack

Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software company, said
in a statement that “a small number” of its computers were
hacked in a recent cyber attack.

The computers were attacked by “malicious software” using
techniques similar to those experienced and reported recently by
Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc., the Redmond, Washington-based
company said in its statement posted on the company website Feb.
22.

None of its customers’ computers were affected in the
attack, Microsoft claims. The company is in the middle of an
investigation of the attacks and said that this type of attack
“is no surprise” to the company.

Microsoft said it doesn’t make any statements about such
attacks during the initial information-gathering process.

‘Major’ German Companies Hit With Cyber Attacks, Official Says

Stefan Keller, the head of the German Interior Ministry’s
department in charge of cyber security, told the European Police
Conference that 70 percent of all major Germany companies “are
threatened or affected” by cyber attacks, Der Spiegel reported.

The “overwhelming number” of attacks targeting German
government agencies are coming from China, mainly Beijing,
Shanghai and Guangzhou, according to Der Spiegel.

Proposed German legislation may contain a requirement for
companies that are targets of cyber attacks to report them to
the government, the newspaper reported.

Presently, “it is a question of coincidence” that the
government learns about attacks against German companies, Der
Spiegel reported.